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Joe Nocera

Hacking General Petraeus

But on what grounds? I looked up the cyber-stalking statute. It says that a crime has been committed when e-mail “causes substantial emotion distress” or places the victim in “reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury.”

This strikes me as a pretty high standard. It is possible, I suppose, that the anonymous e-mails Kelley was getting from Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’s former mistress, met that standard. And the F.B.I. has worked hard to make Broadwell’s e-mails sound as threatening as possible. But once they leak out, as they surely will, I strongly suspect that we’ll see that the law was just a fig leaf.

So, too, with the “classified information” Broadwell is supposed to have. (And didn’t you love the F.B.I.’s big show of carting away her computers?) Given the government’s propensity, since 9/11, to stamp “classified” on every piece of paper short of the paper towels in the commissary, my guess is that this claim is also going to turn out to be less than earth-shattering. Once the F.B.I. learned the truth — that it was just about sex — it needed a high-minded rationale to keep snooping. Broadwell did the F.B.I. a huge favor by leaving “classified” information on her computer.

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Kelley could have just complained to Petraeus that his girlfriend was sending her obnoxious emails and have him put a stop to it. Instead, she went to the FBI because she wanted to put Broadwell in her place. I would like to say that both these women ruined the men they claimed to love and admire so much. But the men ruined themselves.

Can’t remember now where I read this, but it was reported that the emails were a security concern because they contained confidential information Petraeus’ activities and travels. If that’s true, then the FBI was worried that this anonymous emailer had illegally obtained info about the CIA director.

Maybe the FBI used the case of finding Broadwell’s drivers license in rock creek park as an excuse to investigate further since that’s where two double agents, Albert Ames and Robert Hansen were caught using the park to exchange messages and $$ with the KGB in years past.

But the men ruined themselves.
Frankly, I think Petraues was next on Kelley’s list of GILF.
Blake on November 18, 2012 at 10:13 AM

You are known by your friends. The two talking uteri lived like bottom feeders and power groupies, not to mention, apparently with access to the WH. There is no evidence the Generals were set up, but there is no evidence they were not set up, either. In any case, they set themselves up relying on bimbos who unlike most people in America, don’t get invites the the WH, even to visit ‘unnamed aides’ for ‘non political purposes.

How many times has the Korean ambassador been to the WH?

Neither female looking very sad that the General go dragged down by the cat. Meow, purr

Petraeus defined himself down, and he was kept warm until needed, like the spice in a stew

I will still note that Jill Kelley has a sister who lost custody of her child in a divorce case because she tried to run off with the child and keep away from the ex-husband. The judge in the case considered her both vindictive and emotionally unstable, and awarded the husband full custody. And yet both Gen. Petraeus and Gen Allen wrote letters to the judge on the behalf of the sister.

While certainly not illegal, this raises questions about the judgement of both men, and reminds us why affairs — and even so-called “inappropriate relationships” that don’t rise to the level of affairs — are considered dangerous to men in power. They are never “just about sex.” They always seem to lead to some form of influence peddling or favors.